IRRATIONAL SCIENTISTS

WILLIAM CHESTER MINOR

An American surgeon who was responsible for adding most of the

example quotations to the original Oxford Dictionary. The crazy part?

He did this while in an insane asylum because he had killed somebody

 in a bout of paranoia. His incarceration gave him plenty of time to

think of example sentences though.

RICHARD FEYNMAN

Known for his work on the Manhattan Project, Richard was also a

notorious prankster. He would spend his free time picking locks and

cracking safes around the premises to show how easy it would be to

break in somewhere (ironic considering he worked in such a secure

environment). He also became fluent in Mayan and learned how

to throat sing.

YOSHIRO NAKAMATSU

The Japanese inventor responsible for the CD, DVD, and digital watch,

documents every single thing he eats in order to fulfil his passion of

living to be exactly 144 years old and apparently not a second more.

OLIVER HEAVISIDE

The British mathematician was known as an eccentric who placed

huge granite blocks around his house and went for long periods

of time consuming nothing but milk.

HENRY CAVENDISH

Although he basically discovered hydrogen, Henry had notoriously

bad social skills and sat at home all day. His discoveries weren’t

found out until nearly 100 years after his death by James Maxwell

and by that time other people had made pretty much all of his

discoveries and received the credit.

TYCHO BRAHE

This Danish astronomer is famous for staying at the table during a

banquet in Prague even though he needed to pee. Unfortunately he

ended up developing a kidney stone and dying.

NIKOLAI TESLA

After building a high frequency oscillator he invited Mark Twain over

because Mark was having digestive issues. He told Mark to stand on

the machine and about 90 seconds later Mark ran for the bathroom.

Nikolai later remarked that he had shook the poop out of Mark Twain.

PYTHAGORAS

Besides the Pythagorean Theorum one of his great ideas was that

beans were so bad for you that they should not be eaten or touched.

Legend has it that he was chased from his house by attackers and

after coming to a bean field he chose to face his death rather

than cross it.